Instagram unveils multi-account access for Android beta users

By Jason Hahn November 28, 2015

instagram rolls multiple account support android beta users — Image used with permission by copyright holder

Instagram is taking a page from Twitter’s book by allowing its app users to stay logged in to multiple accounts at the same time. The feature is rolling out to Android users who are part of Instagram’s Play Store beta testing program.

The multi-account access was noticed on version 7.12.0 of the Instagram beta app, according to Android Police and Twitter user @fro_rogue. Users who have the beta app can dive into the bottom of the settings menu and tap on “Add Account” to log in to another account or create a new Instagram handle.

After a user is logged into multiple accounts, they can toggle between them by tapping their username from their profile page. A drop-down menu will display the added accounts and an option to add another account. Users can head back to the settings menu to log out of individual accounts or all added accounts at once.

The multi-account feature appears to be rolling out to beta users in phases, according to Android Police. Some users report having the feature then losing it.

If you use an Android phone and want to join the Instagram Beta Program, head to the Google Group and follow the steps.

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Jason Hahn is a part-time freelance writer based in New Jersey. He earned his master's degree in journalism at Northwestern…

Mobile

You can now download the first Android 12L Beta on your Google Pixel

Android 12L shown for a larger display.

Google announced on Wednesday the first beta release of Android 12L, the next feature drop for the recently released Android 12 operating system. Aimed primarily at tablets and larger-screened devices, Android 12L will focus on changing the Android experience from the much-critiqued blown-up-phone look to a discrete experience that takes the larger canvas of tablets into account.
What's new?
Today's beta release includes the refreshed interface for larger screens, including a column view for the notification shade and lock screen. A new multitasking dock is being introduced to allow faster access to split-screen and drag-and-drop, and Google's now done work to allow every Android 12 app to work with split-screen mode regardless of whether developers have built for it.

The big problem with big-screen Android
Unlike iOS, the Android experience on tablets and larger-screened devices has been abysmal. It's a little understandable when one considers that Google shifted its tablet focus from Android to Chrome OS a few years ago. While Chrome OS currently has a decent tablet experience, one that the current Android 12L seems to want to replicate when looking at the dock and split-screen multitasking, the app experience for both has remained lacking.

Mobile

A flaw in MediaTek audio chips could have exposed Android users’ conversations

A MediaTek processor on a motherboard.

Security researchers have discovered a new flaw in a MediaTek chip used in over a third of the world’s smartphones that could have potentially been used to listen in on private conversations. The chip in question is an audio processing chip by MediaTek that’s found in many Android smartphones from vendors such as Xiaomi, Oppo, Realme, and Vivo. Left unpatched, researchers say, a hacker could have exploited the vulnerabilities in the chip to eavesdrop on Android users and even hide malicious code.
Check Point Research (CPR) reverse-engineered MediaTek’s audio chip, discovering an opening that could allow a malicious app to install code meant to intercept audio passing through the chip and either record it locally or upload it to an attacker’s server.
CPR disclosed its findings to MediaTek and Xiaomi several weeks ago, and the four identified vulnerabilities have already been patched by MediaTek. Details on the first can be found in MediaTek’s October 2021 Security Bulletin, while information on the fourth will be published in December.
“MediaTek is known to be the most popular chip for mobile devices,” Slava Makkaveev, Security Researcher at Check Point Software, said to Digital Trends in a press release. “Given its ubiquity in the world, we began to suspect that it could be used as an attack vector by potential hackers. We embarked research into the technology, which led to the discovery of a chain of vulnerabilities that potentially could be used to reach and attack the audio processor of the chip from an Android application.”
Fortunately, it looks like researchers caught the flaws before they could be exploited by malicious hackers. Makkaveev also raised concerns about the possibility of device manufacturers exploiting this flaw “to create a massive eavesdrop campaign;” however, he notes that his firm didn’t find any evidence of such misuse.
Tiger Hsu, product security officer at MediaTek, also said that the company has no evidence that the vulnerability has been exploited but added that it worked quickly to verify the problem and make the necessary patches available to all device manufacturers who rely on MediaTek’s audio processors.
Flaws like these are also often mitigated by security features in the Android operating system and the Google Play Store, and both Makkaveev and Hsu are reminding users to keep their devices updated to the latest available security patches and only install applications from trusted locations.

Mobile

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jiophone next by reliance jio in black color running pragati os android 11 go

Super-affordable 4G LTE data plans offered by Reliance Jio, India's largest telecom operator, have led to a monumental uptake of affordable smartphones in the last five years, transitioning India into a market with over 700 million 4G users. The telco, which also sells affordable 4G feature phones running on KaiOS, now aims to disrupt the smartphone market by announcing an Android phone called JioPhone Next that will be available for an initial cost of only 1,999 rupees, or roughly $26.

If that sounds too good to be true, that's because it is. While those buying the JioPhone Next will have the option to pay only 1,999 rupees at the time of purchase, they will also have to pay at least 300 rupees ($4) each month for the next 18 or 24 months depending on the plan they choose. These recurring payments will include the monthly subscription cost, as well as the remaining cost of the handset. Notably, these plans are exclusive to the JioPhone Next and will not be valid for other 4G smartphones.